Open Letter to Rubio from Nevada DREAMers

As we welcome you back to Las Vegas, we’d like to remind you of the city you left behind – a city of hardworking Americans and of workers and students like us, who are Americans in every way except on paper. We call Las Vegas home, as you once did. We went to school in your old neighborhood. We’re not that different from you.

So we have to ask: why do you support Mitt Romney, who promises to expel talented young people like us? Why do you stand with someone who stands against people like you – people who are here because of our parents, who love this country and want to contribute to its excellence?

President Obama has long supported the DREAM Act – the opportunity for responsible, young immigrants who came here through no fault of their own and grew up as Americans to earn their citizenship by serving in the military or going to college. Since Congress won’t act, he instructed the Department of Homeland Security to defer DREAMers’ deportation process temporarily for two years on a case-by-case basis, making our immigration system more fair, efficient and just.

The President is committed to working with Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform and has reaffirmed his commitment to strengthening our economic competitiveness by creating a legal immigration system that rewards hard work and demands responsibility. He believes we need a smart, effective system that secures our borders and holds employers accountable, and he continues to fight for the DREAM Act.

But instead of supporting those commonsense solutions, you agreed with Mitt Romney as he became more and more extreme on immigration. When Romney promised to veto the DREAM Act and called it a handout, you supported him. When he said the anti-immigrant Arizona law is a “model” for the nation and that the solution for our broken immigration system is for all undocumented immigrants to “self-deport,” you defended him. What happened to the sensible young Latino that Las Vegas used to know?

Senator, we’re not asking for a handout. We’re asking for you to remember where you came from. Remember your North Las Vegas roots. You know us. You went to school with young people like us. We just want to stay in the place we call home – it’s the only home we’ve ever known.

The Latino community deserves answers. We need to know how Marco Rubio, who used to live in Las Vegas, could support a candidate who is on the wrong side of every issue that’s important to the Latino community, and would be the most extreme nominee on immigration in modern history.

But more than anything, we ask you to stand up for your community. Will you stand with us and denounce Mitt Romney’s vision for the Latino community?